A link from Bruce Schneier’s website to another link to YouTube, I discovered this video. I don’t speak German, however, if you watch closely the scanner picked out the cell phone and Swiss Army knife, but it missed all the components needed to make a bomb.
A woman was rescued after six days, buried under the rubble, thanks to his unwavering love and desire to find her.
My choice for a donation would be DirectRelief International. One of my favorite sites on the internet, reddit, has partnered with them. Go give a couple of bucks now.
Members of the Chaos Computer Club have been able to clone the digital security ID cards that some German airports use and then used them to access all airport areas [German] [English]. They used an RFID reader that cost less than €200 to scan a valid card. The scanner was then able to emulate the card.
Officials at the Hamburg airport admit that this is a vulnerability, but they are quick to point out that cards are not the only means of security at the airport. This, however, still does not address the problem. The system dates from 1992, which is definitely out of date, and was meant for access to low-risk places, such as schools and supermarkets, yet airport officials seem to not be taking the issue seriously.
Given that the cards allow persons to roam secure areas at the airport, they should be very concerned. The cards could allow a person to gain access to the cargo hold of an airplane. One could easily plant a bomb in that area with no one the wiser.
The Nigerian Immigration Service plans to build a database of biometric information for reference purposes and will begin registering with African expatriates living in Nigeria.
A statement reviewing its activities in 2009 and projections for 2010 made available to newsmen in Abuja said that in the area of internal security, “the NIS shall commence the biometric registration of non-Nigerians in the country beginning with Africans, in the first quarter of 2010. The purpose of starting with Africans is because the NIS already has a data base for Non-Africans. The equipments have been configured and a test-run, conducted, while operational vehicles have been purchased.
“The objective of the registration is to have a data base of all foreigners resident in Nigeria for reference purpose. It will not be an exercise to remove illegal aliens, but a programme that will be of immense benefit for aliens as there will be official records to prove that they are resident in Nigeria and therefore entitled to Federal Governments protection and other benefits that accrue to them in line with international practices.
The objective of the visa review also includes placing Nigeria in a position to benefit from the global upswing in tourism, divest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to create more job opportunities for Nigerians and reinforce professionalism and work ethics by transforming the entire visa issuance process to be technologically driven, simple and convenient without compromising national security.
According to the statement, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr. Chukwurah Udeh, promised to consolidate on the success of the e-passport amongst other programmes. “The e-passport will be issued in more Nigerian missions abroad. Very importantly, with effect from December 31, 2010, the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) will cease to be a valid travel document. Consequently, from the January 1, 2011, only holders of the e-passport will be allowed to travel out of Nigeria”.
While this is intended as a way to better track people immigrating to Nigeria and for the Nigerian government to know who is in the country, the removal of all MRPs is a curious one. While MRPs are being phased out, there are still some people who have them from other countries where they do not expire in 2010. My passport, for instance, expires in 2013 and is an MRP. I will not have the new RFID type passport until then. I wonder if I would be stuck in the country if I went to visit and tried to leave again.
